


His Face

by hummingrightalong



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky doesn't need to be rehabilitated, Bucky is a SHIELD agent, Bucky was brainwashed it's not his fault, S.H.I.E.L.D. won, Ward didn't do the thing to FitzSimmons, Ward is a triple agent, Ward is back with the team, besides Winter Soldier goes right back to work in the comics, hydra lost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 13:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9125722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hummingrightalong/pseuds/hummingrightalong
Summary: An AU where Agent Ward was a good guy all along and gets the priviledge of working with Captain America and the Winter Soldier on a mission. And despite how much he admires them, he finds out they're sometimes just regular guys.





	

What a honor and a privilege this was, and Grant Ward just couldn’t believe he was sitting here. Actually, honest to goodness gearing up with Captain America and Bucky freakin’ Barnes.   
If he were to be perfectly honest, and only to himself deep down /silently/ inside of himself, he’d have to admit that he’d been almost creepy inspired by one of these men as a young Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.   
Their exploits were infamous, and if you asked the right questions to the right senior agents they knew a few other anecdotes about the Howling Commando days that were both amazing and hilarious.   
‘Bucky’ (or James, or the Winter Soldier, depending on how well he knew you and HOW he knew you) and Steve had a few of their own stories that they traded back and forth with the slightly taunting but friendly air of two dudes who had been friends for a long time.  
They was no reason to dwell on the Winter Soldier days, or make any judgements, that Steve Rogers had made perfectly clear. It also probably had something to do with why Ward had been lucky enough to be assigned to this particular mission (ok, that and the fact- he hoped- his record was as shining as the Black Widow herself).  
In the case of James, which he more than slightly preferred to be called now (even though ‘Jimmy’ used to send him into a fit of rage during his Commando days), he was sort of protective of Agent Ward.   
A lot of people were still on edge with him, despite the fact that his status as a ‘triple agent’ had become quite clear after Hydra’s (huge loss) attempt to take S.H.I.E.L.D. down.  
In fact his special assignment (orders from...CLASSIFIED) was a large part in assisting the incredible man beside him, who was calmly checking their weapons and stowing some gear, into becoming an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. along with his best friend.  
Faith restored in the agency that was chock full of insurgents, people they sat by every day, worked with, trusted with their lives. Needless to say there was bound to be some cleaning up- with the system, with remaining members, and with some escaped stragglers that had gotten out of the cloud of dust having access and knowledge of huge secrets and important people.  
Hence the reason that a living legend, a ghost that had been through hell and back and barely had his head on straight sometimes, and an agent that gave up everything to go deep undercover were on this VERY important assignment.  
Ensuring the survival of what was so much more important to him than being loyal to someone who he realized early on would only leave him in the dust if it helped his cause didn’t really require that much internal debate.   
That’s why Ward had betrayed the man trying to induct him into the evil organization with the creepiest damn insignia he’d ever seen in his line of work (also, to be honest, the dumbest looking salute in 100 years).  
Never mind all that, Grant reminds himself, realizing that (as one is likely to do when trained the way their agents were) they were well into the facility they had planned to break into. They needed to get to one man, an ex-high ranking agent who turned out to be deeply undercover for Hydra. He knew too much and something had to be done about him. But first…  
“Hey kid, you ever see those cat videos where they freak out about the cucumber?” James asks in a whisper, looking deadly serious despite the strange question and terrible timing.  
They’re crouched around a corner, watching the posted guards make their rounds and waiting for the right time to disable them or ‘cross them off’ if need be. Considering the kind of place this is, and what they know the inner circle here is willing and capable of, the Winter Soldier has made a clear choice.  
“Huh? Umm, yes, I mean- why?”  
“Shhh. Steve’s not going to like this, good thing he’s off the other way.” James reminds him, retrieving a high-tech explosive device from his belt of tricks. “Now watch this.”  
He sets the device, quietly rolling it out to land right behind the posted guard. Then he whistles loudly to get the man’s attention.   
It doesn’t work for a second, the guy turning the wrong way in an assumption that one of his buddies is trying to signal from the other end of the hall.   
Ward smirks as the Winter Soldier rolls his eyes and grimaces (sort of like a kid not getting his way) and whistles again. They both know they have a few seconds before the thing goes off, each counting in their heads as the guy finally turns around.  
It shouldn’t be funny. It really, really shouldn’t. But when you do what they do on a day-to-day basis, you sometimes have to learn laugh at the macabre. You’re going to see terrible, gorey shit and somehow you gotta keep going. That’s what separates some agents from people like Ward and Barnes. They understand each other.  
So when the guy sees the grenade right freakin’ behind him, and probably knows instinctively that it’s too late, he should have do anything but what he does. And, really, any guy would probably not want to live after letting out a shriek like that, followed by a perfect ballet-like move which, perhaps, was some misguided attempt to get away from the blast.  
What it really looked like though was a high jump with one leg behind him, toes pointed and arms high in the air as he leapt forward like he expected a dancing partner to catch him.  
“His face!” Grant Ward exclaims, snorting a laugh just a bit too loudly, before he and James duck back around the corner and shield their eyes and ears from the resulting blast seconds later.  
The Winter Soldier smirks when it’s over, maybe even laughs a little. He’s looking behind Grant when he says with a shrug “his face…”  
Grant turns around to see that some of the, ahem, remains, have (wow, what a boom) landed right behind him. In fact, when he startles, jumping and screeching a bit (in a manly way of course). He knows just by the look one of his living breathing historical role model that he had just done the ‘cucumber cat’ thing. God, how embarrassing.   
Perfectly timed too, as Steve Rogers (suit and self pristine of course) comes strolling into their sector.  
“Any troubles?” He asks, raising his eyebrow at his friend when he sees the carnage.   
“If you say anything, Steven, anything about being a bad example I’ll have to start spillin’.”  
“Oh yeah? About what?” Cap challenges James, puffing his chest out comically while he goes to work with the next phases of the plan. Ward follows suit but he’s gotta admit, if there’s an hilarious embarrassing anecdote about Captain America then he wants to know.  
“Hey kiddo, did you know that if you kick a man hard enough in the coccyx you can kill him?”  
“Damn it Bucky, I said it then I’m sayin’ it again. They didn’t tell us shit like that in the war!” ‘Bucky’ is already just about giggling (a strange but kind of amazing sight) and rolling his eyes.  
“Sure, sure. The poor bastard was surrendering pal.”  
“Yes, he was. And I was just...letting him know who was boss at that moment.”  
“Yeah, he sure didn’t forget.”  
They jovially disagree about it all the way through the compound until the shit hits the fan again, and never once come to a compromise on the subject.   
Apparently, after capturing a soldier during the war who was smart enough to surrender and not make the commandos angry, Steve had meant to ‘encourage’ the guy down a steep hill and, well, let’s just say he didn’t know his own strength. Or that it was possible to literally kill a guy by kicking him in the ass. Bucky did though. Of course Bucky did. Because he always knew what was up when Steve had ‘one of those moments’.   
From what Ward overheard that evening, the commandos had quite a few ‘special moments’, like any person does (no matter how incredible/experienced/enhanced they might be). Things that might never make the history books but are more important than anything because, at the very least, they remind us that we are all only human and doing our goddamned best.


End file.
